CHAT CLASS DISCUSSION INFORMATION, JULY 16, 2008 by Mambo Samantha Corfield
SUBJECT: Continuing discussion on Papa Alegba.
INFORMATION: As you know, of course, from our previous discussions (see transcripts from the past two classes), we have established that Papa Legba has many more attributes other than his extremely important attribute of being The Gatekeeper between our physical world and the spiritual world of Les Lois (the lwa).
We talked quite a bit about how Papa can help us with communicating with someone. This is especially helpful if you have limited, poor, or no communication with someone you are working on with, for instance, love spell work. Besides asking Papa to fulfill his function of opening the gate, we can also ask him for help with communication. It is actually fairly simple to just ask Papa to help you with your petitioning. You can ask him to help you if you are writing a petition down; ask him to help you form your words so that your HD will understand what you are trying to say. All to often in both our physical life and spiritual life, people are too busy, stubborn, stressed, etc., to actually HEAR what we are saying, let alone take the time to truly understand it. So take a little bit of time and write down your petitions for work you are doing after you have asked Papa Legba to help you.
I have noticed that all too often when I speak to some of you about writing petitions you are intent upon making your petitions sound good. A lot of them are very poetic, flowery, and worthy of being published in a book of poetry. That is nice, but does your HD speak, think, and respond to that kind of talk? If so, that is great! If not, perhaps it is time to rethink how you are writing those petitions. The petition sounding good on paper doesn't necessarily translate into it sounding good to your HD! If you have been working with a product, such as a love doll for instance, for quite some time sort of using the same petitions over and over again, now would be a good time to try writing them with the help of Papa Legba. Obviously, if you have already been getting stellar results with your current petitions, then don't change them! However, if you are getting lukewarm or no results, let's try an exercise to get Papa to help with your petitions.
Writing Spellwork Petitions with Papa Legba
Decide what product you are going to use to work with – love doll, gris-gris bags from castings, solo casting talisman – take your pick. All of the “normal” instructions of the product still remain in place. We aren't changing up how we use the product; we are changing up how we petition.
Have the item you will be working with. Make yourself comfortable and try not to do this when you are in a hurry. Leave yourself time to get the guidance. Light a simple white candle and ask Papa Legba to come spend some time with you. Tell him that you want him to help you and that he doesn't need to be bothered with opening the gate. Tonight it is just you and him!
Hold the product you will be using in your hands for a minute. Tell Papa what you are trying to accomplish with that product. Tell Papa that you need his special help in writing the petitions and requests of this work you are doing. Tell him that you need him to assist you in writing words that your loved one will understand, hear, and to which s/he will respond. (Don't forget the “respond” part – hearing and understanding doesn't do us a lot of good if the party doesn't respond.)
You can put the product down, but keep it nearby. (And you don't have to do all of this at an altar. You can if you want to, but you can also do it in an easy chair with your candle by your side or anywhere else that you are comfortable and it is safe to keep a candle burning.) Now begin to write your petitions. Let the words just flow and do not edit yourself the first time around!! (Tip: For those of you who attended and worked with the classes on automatic writing – you can actually use those concepts here and ask Papa to take the pen or pencil and use your hand to write the words! Remember I told you guys to keep practicing that? Well, this is one of the reasons why! If you get good at it, you can get specific at what information you ask for! If you did not do or haven't practiced the automatic writing, I would not try to employ that method the first time around writing the petitions with Papa Legba. It will constrain the flow because you will be trying to use two relatively new concepts at the same time. It is better to master one concept at a time.) Anyway, don't try to maneuver the words around so that they “sound good” to you. Keep asking Papa, “how is this?” “Will my HD understand and respond to this?” If you feel the urge to continue working on it, then you know that Papa is still fine tuning it.
Don't expect this just to work perfectly the first time you do it. You will question whether or not you are doing, or Papa, or are you just imaging things, etc. As I have told you, that is normal. However, keep at it! Just sit there and write free form, stream of consciousness. Then every so often read it aloud to Papa and ask him about it. Keep writing, but don't edit those petitions already written, just write more and more new ones as you go. It WILL start to flow and you will get the best possible petitions for your case.
When you are finished, offer Papa a nice cool glass of water. Have one yourself. Extinguish your candle or let it burn out. At some point within three days, leave Papa an offering at a crossroads if at all possible, or under a tree. (I will put up an information page about Papa with suggested offerings, but most of you know the basics anyway!)
NOW, next time you use that product, begin using those petitions. You may even find that some of what you have chosen sounds awkward to you! That is not a bad sign at all. It is a sign that Papa has configured those words into the language of your HD's Higher Self. Also, if you are not working on an HD, but are using this method for other type of spell work, and the words sound awkward or unfamiliar, it means that Papa has put the words into the language of whatever lwa you have called or he has sent to you with which to work.
Try not to overcomplicate this, folks! Just imagine yourself sitting down to an evening with a beloved uncle, grandfather, or friend. You want him to help you write something that is important to you. He isn't there to judge you and for heaven's sake quit worrying about “offending” him or doing something wrong. Some of you need to stop reading so much crap on the internet (sorry!). This is your warm and fuzzy time with Papa, make the most of it! It isn't that complicated.
If you are someone who is in contact with your HD, you can also use the above method to ask Papa to help you talk to your HD. Obviously you aren't going to be sitting around reading off of a paper to talk to your HD. However, asking Papa to help you shape your words, form your sentences, and in all ways configure your communication with your HD to be as good as possible can only be a positive thing in your relationship. Let's face it, most relationships that fail, fail at least in some part from a lack of communication, misunderstandings, poor communication, etc. Especially if your relationship suffered from this, and even if it didn't, enhancing communication between two people on a physical and spiritual level can only be a good thing!
So you can rework the directions above a little bit for when you know that you are going to see and talk to your HD. For those of you who use the Quick Communication Spell from my blog, you can work in a session with Papa Legba during that spell and ask him to assist you in making that communication, when it comes, to be a great one!
OPTIONAL ASSIGNMENT: Rewrite a petition that you have been working with for awhile, using the method described above. Share both the old and new “Papa-ized” petition with the class next week (7/23/2008). (Please remove any identifying information from the petition such as full names, etc.) Share with us your experience in working with Papa to write the new petition.